Check out photos from today's @BigRedWrestling win over Harvard! #YellCornell (📸 : Dave Burbank/Cornell Athletics)
— Cornell Big Red (@CornellSports) January 26, 2020
Full Gallery: https://t.co/zXhawXSnTH pic.twitter.com/cUlMUrlSxd
ITHACA, N.Y. - Cornell wrestling racked up its 300th all-time Ivy League victory on Saturday, Jan. 25 with a 32-9 win over Harvard. Following the win, the Big Red is now 300-52-1 in Ivy League duals dating back to the 1955-56 season (first season of Ivy League competition). Facing Brown in the nightcap of the doubleheader, the Big Red came out on top by a final score of 36-4, winning at nine of the ten weights.
Wins over Harvard and Brown improves No. 18-ranked Cornell's dual record to 8-5 overall and 3-0 in the Ivy League.
Cornell opened its dual against Harvard with four straight victories, led by major decisions from Dom LaJoie at 125 pounds and Hunter Richard at 149. LaJoie scored a 12-3 upset over Harvard's No. 15-ranked Nolan Hellickson, while Richard defeated Aaron Kruk by a 12-4 final. Its LaJoie's second victory over a ranked opponent this season. Richard continues his hot-streak for the Big Red, winning his fifth-straight match and his fourth win with bonus points in that time frame, third by major decision.
No. 5-ranked Chas Tucker kept his unbeaten streak alive at 133 pounds, nearly scoring bonus points in a 12-5 victory over Michael Jaffe. The 12 points scored by Tucker is tied for his highest scoring output of the season, matching his 12-5 win over Ohio State's Dylan Koontz on Dec. 1. Noah Baughman got back into the win column with an 8-4 decision victory over Lukus Stricker at 141 pounds.
Harvard snapped Cornell's streak of consecutive victories at 157 and 165 pounds, picking up back-to-back wins by decision. Adam Santoro and Jake Brindley both dropped close bouts at the weight.
The Big Red extended its lead to 32-6 over the Crimson with three-straight six-point victories at 174, 184 and 197 pounds. Wrestling in his second match of the season, Andrew Berreyesa found the pin he missed out on in the Virginia Tech dual, pinning Pierce Bausano in the second period (4:36). Jonathan Loew pinned Michael Doggett at 184 pounds, taking a page out of Ben Darmstadt's book with the assassin to pin Doggett in 2:54.
Darmstadt returned to the Cornell lineup at 197 pounds, but took a forfeit victory. In the final bout of the dual, Brendan Furman was defeated by No. 9-ranked Yaraslau Slavikauski, 9-3.
Cornell continued its strong day of wrestling when it welcomed Brown to the Friedman Wrestling Center at 6 p.m. Both teams had already wrestled once prior on Saturday, with Brown defeating Binghamton, 19-14, in Binghamton, N.Y. The Big Red earned victories at nine weights against the Bears, only allowing Brown to score points at 197 pounds.
The Big Red won the first seven matches of the night before Brown forfeited at 184 pounds. LaJoie started things off at 125 by evening his season record to 13-13 following an 8-3 victory over Brown's Trey Keeley. Tucker, Baughman, Richard and Berreyesa also picked up their second win of the day in the dual against Brown. Tucker gave Cornell a 6-0 lead in team score with an 8-3 decision over Charlie Faber. Baughman tallied the first bonus point match of the night, taking it to Jimmy Pawelski to the tune of a 12-4 final score.
Richard won his sixth-straight dual match, narrowly defeating Brown's Ricky Cabanillas in the closest match of the night, 5-4. Santoro earned his third bonus point win of the season following Richard's win at 149, defeating Jack Bokina by a score of 14-3. It's the third highest scoring output of the season for Santoro, who previously beat Buffalo's Dillon Ross by tech fall (19-4) and Minnesota's Ryan Thomas by major decision (17-5).
Wins from Brindley and Berreyesa increased Cornell's lead to 24-0 before Loew received a win by forfeit at a 184 pounds, which brought the team score to 30-0. Brindley defeated Kiran Srikanth, 8-3, and Berreyesa shut down Cade Wilson, 10-0. Berreyesa is now 3-0 in his return to the Big Red lineup this season, after opening the season on Olympic redshirt.
Furman capped the night off in a big way, scoring points quick and early en route to pinning James Valentino in 43 seconds. It's Furman's fifth win by fall this season and his first since pinning Buffalo's Colton Crane at the Cornell Open on Nov. 24, 2019.